The Chair of Felipe II and the Sharmatico meta-escalation

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The Chair of Felipe II and the Sharmatico meta escalation

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They say that in the Chair of Felipe II the monarch never sat down to supervise the construction of the monastery of El Escorial. Today, possibly, the king of world climbing is the Californian Chris Sharmabut neither does he occupy the throne of this story that, with a metonymic rebound, revolves around him and the movement generated around one of the tourist routes most famous in the Community of Madrid (located just 50km from the capital, in the La Herrería forest). Also, although less famous and independent of the miraculous phenomenon of Alberto Ginés, it is one of the most attractive bouldering areas in the Iberian Peninsula, with more than 850 blocks, which even called the attention of several of the openings of Fontainebleau (France), which many consider the best area for this discipline due to its very fine sandstone, surrounded by a beautiful lush forest. Now, possibly, the news lies in the fact that dozens of young people continue to go to the Silla de Felipe at dawn not to have a bottle, but to go loaded with weight with their crashpad (mats to prevent injuries from falls), light bulbs, brushes, magnesium and food in order to complete climbing projects, which can last for years, for the native granite blocks (compact and rounded), from 2 meters high to large tsunamis of up to 6 meters.

The respected openers of the area, back in the 90s, David Periñan aka DavidJorge Tost, Iván Luengo or Hector del Campo they rub their eyes with the movement that has emerged almost three decades later. A group of climbers, called Sharmaticand formed by Jimmy, Sergio (Soren), Marcelo, Acres, María, Álvaro, Ana, Kike and Oskar, launched a channel in Youtube with the intention of publicizing all the routes of the Felipe Chair. In less than a year it has already surpassed 150,000 views and is now at a peak with the opening of a climbing wall in Moralzarzal (Madrid). Without the budget, or the claim, or any relationship with the chain of climbing walls of Chris Sharma (three in Spain with an income forecast of about five million euros in 2022), the Sharmatico phenomenon could be defined something like ‘meta-escalation’, where bouldering transcends beyond the purely earthly. “The name of Sharmatico was born from a block of Pedriza, located in the Laboratory sector. Not for anything in particular, but because we were amused by that block that, by the way, we didn’t get to do (7B). His difficulty lies in going to campus (where you have to hold on only with the strength of your fingers, without any support for your feet) where you have to be as strong as Chris Sharma, ”he explains. Jaime Left White (26 years), photographer, SEO and owner of the climbing wall with Maria Fernandez de Tejada (31 years), surveyor who left her job as site manager to embark on this high-rise project, like when they are six or seven meters above the ground climbing without a rope (with the concentration and confidence that a force within them will make them give that last push to complete the route and get to safety).

The Chair of Felipe II and the Sharmatico meta escalation

Jimmy and María, at the Sharmatico climbing wall in Moralzarzal (Madrid).

Only in the Community of Madrid is there 36 climbing walls (one for every 184,000 people). “I hallucinate, I have not seen this in my life and more after the pandemic. I think respect for the mountain has been lost”, says a climber in his fifties quarryman from the after-climb Sharmatico’s chill. The rise of climbing goes beyond the 284,406 federative licenses of 2020. “The block is a discipline in which the difficulty of climbing is based on very few movements. The only safety you have is to fall on a mat crashpad, in blocks measuring one meter to 8 meters. The climbing wall allows you to get stronger facing those rock outings, which have nothing to do with what you find in those huge rooms, where the user profile of climbing has grown a lot indoors. Before, the local climbing walls were like a way to train facing the mountain and have three beers after training. That is the essence that we are looking for here, like those old garages converted into climbing walls, but creating a cultural meeting center around climbing”, emphasizes Jimmy. They are in love with big projects. The ones that require a lot of time, effort, a lot of hits and meditation so as not to fall apart. One day they were recording with no other intention than to enjoy the tracks ‘Kun Fu Panda’, ‘Hello to the Wave’, ‘5 kilos of potatoes’ or ‘Esguinzofrenico’. Today they organize a life project, Sharmaticin which they are proving to be stronger than Chris Sharma himself…

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